


Rip Tide

by La wen Shoufei (Raven_Charge), LadyOfTheOldWorld



Series: Those of Pure Blood [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Ted Tonks, Asexual Charlie Weasley, Bellatrix and Andromeda are Twins, Bill Weasley/Original Character(s) - Freeform, Bisexual Bill Weasley, Bisexual Nymphadora Tonks, Canon? What Canon?, Charlie Calls Himself Broken A Lot, Consensual Underage Sex Discussed, Contemplated Murder, Discussed Divorce, Domestic Violence, F/F, Gen, Grey Andromeda Black Tonks, Grey Charlie Weasley, Grey Nymphadora Tonks, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Incest, Internalized Acephobia, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Nymphadora Tonks Gets a New Name, One-sided Severus Snape/Charlie Weasley, Past Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Andromeda Black Tonks, Past Blackcest, Referenced Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Sibling Incest, Twincest, awkward teenagers being awkward, discussed incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 04:26:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19041103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Charge/pseuds/La%20wen%20Shoufei, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyOfTheOldWorld/pseuds/LadyOfTheOldWorld
Summary: In Fifth Year, things change irrevocably.





	Rip Tide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [La wen Shoufei (Raven_Charge)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Charge/gifts).



> Canon? What canon? Trigger warnings in the tags. Cleaned up from a roleplay I did with a friend years ago. Same universe as my other work, "Funhouse Mirror."

Not wanting to pack, and not wanting to deal with his housemates (read: family), Charlie had made his way down to the Hufflepuff common room to meet his best friend in the whole world,  Nymphadora “Dora” Tonks. They were currently fifth years, and supposed to be getting ready to go home for the Christmas holidays, but the redhead in question (he was already growing out his hair, so that it brushed his shoulders) had no desire to do so. Don't get him wrong, he loved his family, but with his mother continually asking if he'd gotten a girlfriend yet, or if he fancied anyone, the Lion Seeker had no desire to go home any sooner than was needed. As always, his best friend knew why he was there before he even had to open his mouth.

“Dreading dealing your mother already, Char?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Thankfully, the Badgers' den was just about empty, so Charlie took the opportunity to flop down onto the couch beside his best friend. “At least your Mum doesn't keep going on and on about you finding someone...”

“There’s that, I guess. I think it stems from her being forced into a relationship, so she just kinda lets me be me. Though, I wish she wouldn't use my name when she knows I hate it.”

“Have you ever outright asked her not to? Like, not just been exasperated, but just asked her to, calmly and rationally?" Truth be told, Charlie wanted to know what she had meant by a “forced” relationship, since pretty much everyone who knew Dora knew that her parents were the most loving pair anyone could find... But he could also tell that that wasn't a subject that his best friend wanted brought up just then.

“When I was younger, yeah I tried but she still used _that name_.”

“...How well does your Mum take last-minute arrangements?” Since an owl to his own Mum would be quick enough, not to mention Bill could calm Molly down as well. “I'll have a crack at your Mum, if you're alright with me spending the holidays with you?” It would also give him the chance to find out what Dora had meant.

“They're going to think we're dating, you know that right?”

“I don't mind if you don't.” As much as a male partner would have made him more comfortable (from an aesthetic and romantic point of view; sexually it was just no on any gender), Dora was his best friend, and one of the few people that knew him well enough to understand him and his limits.

“I could always do this." She blinked and quickly morphed into a copy of her best friend, just with a Hufflepuff shirt.

“Thanks, Dora,” Charlie shook his head, “but no thanks. I'm good.”

“But then I'll be the most handsome man in school.”

For a moment, Charlie just blinked. Then realization dawned on him, and he blushed the same shade as his hair. “Shut it,” he muttered, looking away.

“But it's true~”

“Not a chance, Dora. You're far more attractive than I am,” once more, simply from an aesthetic point of view, “and then there's Bill.” The Head Boy, Prefect, and Quidditch Captain who had had almost every boy and girl in the school lusting after him at one point or another.

“Have I ever lied to you? That didn't involve a prank or something along those lines?”

“Just because you believe you're telling the truth, doesn't automatically make it true.”

“Meh, and just because you believe that I'm lying doesn't make it so.”

“Then we'll need to agree to disagree.”

“As we always do, ya dork.”

Charlie just laughed. “I take it that you're all good and packed? How about you send your Mum an owl, while I go get ready and let Bill know what's up?”

Letting out a laugh of her own, the Metamorph smirked and changed into Bill in an instant. “Of course I'm packed.”

Had he been any other person, Charlie would have cringed. “Stop doing that, it's bad enough that I can admit Bill is aesthetically attractive.”

“Alright, alright, fine.” Shifting back to her normal appearance with bright pink hair, she smirked some more. “I am packed though.”

“I figured. Meet you in the Entrance Hall in twenty?” Good students as they appeared, they were also quite sneaky. They knew ways to cut the time it took to traverse fourteen flights of stairs in more than half.

“Well I can probably beat you there.”

“Is that a bet, Nym~?”

“You sure you want to lose, Char?”

“Who says I'll lose? We might tie, this time.”

“You always lose.”

“Hey, not my fault you cheat." As they good-naturedly bickered, the two made their way out of the Huffelpuff Common Room, and up into the Entrance Hall.

“How do I cheat?!”

“Morph your legs so that they're better equipped to speed.”

“I would never!”

“You sure?” He was completely teasing; he knew she wouldn't.

“I mean unless you're saying that's the only way you could lose to a girl.”

“Not at all.”

“Good because I'd never cheat.”

“I know.”

“Okay so...bye." She took off at top speed for the stairs, heading for the Owlery.

At the exact same moment, Charlie sped off, headed for Gryffindor Tower. Neat as he was, when he finally reached his dorm, he packed as quickly as he could. Things were magically folded and packed with the speed of light, but still, even with his trunk shrunk and in his pocket, and even with all the secret passages, he was still just a hair behind Dora.

Dora smirked from where she stood in the doorway. “You lose.”

“Barely,” Charlie reminded her, sucking in air like he was drowning. Quidditch really hadn't prepared him for bets with Dora.

“Still a loss, Charlie boy.”

“Yeah, yeah, shut it, Dora.”

“NEH!”

“Hey, I didn't use all of it!”

“All of what?”

“The name you hate.”

“You're allowed to call me Dora, but I was just shutting up.”

“Oh, sorry..." If he happened to be blushing in embarrassment, neither commented on it.

“I've told you already, Char, you can call me Dora. Dork."

“Hey, I know you hate the name, so I have to make sure every now and then.”

“I mainly hate the Nymph part.”

“You never did tell me why," he noted, as the two made their way out of the castle and onto the grounds. Charlie would tell Bill on the train. Unless his brother happened to be busy, of course.

“Because of what it implies. I am not a Nymphomaniac, that's Shadow by far.”

“And Bill,” Charlie muttered, before continuing his original thought. “It could also imply that you're a forest spirit, like a nymph from Greek mythology.”

“I get that but still, I have enough trouble as a Meta.”

“True, true.”

“Which is why I don't mind the Dora part if they're my friend.”

“Makes sense.” As they boarded the train, Charlie waving good-bye to Hagrid, the redhead questioned his magenta-haired best friend, “Want to help me look for Bill?” If his brother were busy, there was always a chance Charlie would end up revisiting his lunch.

“I can do it instead if you want?”

“I'll be fine if you're there.” Or, so he hoped. It wouldn't be the first time she had kept him from being sick, after all.

“Alright-y then.”

Of course, since Fate loved to torture Charlie, as he and Dora were talking about something unimportant, when they opened the first compartment door to check for the redhead's older brother... They both got an eye-full of Bill being very 'busy' with a fellow seventh year that they did certainly not need. Blanching chalk white and then turning green, rather than blushing, Charlie ran for the nearest bathroom compartment. So much for his being 'fine'.

After she slammed the door closed, she chased after Charlie. “I told you to let me do it!”

Finishing emptying his stomach of both his lunch and breakfast, Charlie leaned back against the wall. “I... thought I could handle it.” _I_ _wanted_ _to be_ able _to handle it_ , hung unsaid in the air.

“You should have let me, just in case.”

“I know. I'm sorry.” Standing shakily, the redhead flushed away the evidence of his brokenness with a grimace, before moving over to the sink to rinse out his mouth.

“You know I'll never think less of you,” Dora reassured him.

“It's not _you_ , Dora,” he muttered, bracing himself against the sink to let the last of the shakiness pass. Charlie was unable to look her in the eyes, even in her reflection. _It's me_ , or _It's everyone else_ , would both have been perfectly reasonable ways to continue that thought, but he wasn't sure what was more prevalent just then.

“It better not be; I'm the most lax person around.”

“Trust me, Dora, you're almost more my sister than Gin is.” The fact that Ginny was still a child notwithstanding; even younger than ten, she was already a spitfire.

“It's 'cause I'm awesome,” she smirked, the expression very Black.

“True that,” Charlie had to chuckle weakly. Then he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the cold glass of the mirror. “...I'm _broken_ , Dora. How could anyone ever want me knowing that?” Asexual and sex-repulsed as he was, he did want someone to spend the rest of his life with, even if cuddling were as far as anything would ever go.

“I would, if I were interested.”

“You bat for the other team, Dora. I'd never ask you to change that just for me.”

“I know, I'm just saying.”

“Thank you... I don't think even Bill understands like you do.” Speaking of the bisexual devil, a knock on the door – tentative and apologetic, just by the sound – let them know Bill likely wanted to apologize for something that wasn’t even technically his fault.

“Want me to let him in?” the Hufflepuff questioned.

“…Let's just drag him to whatever compartment we claim,” Charlie decided. “He can leave after I let him know what's up.”

“Alright-y then.” She shifted her arm's muscle mass slightly. “After you.”

He rose both eyebrows in question. “Why the intimidation tactic?”

She mimicked his expression perfectly. “Why not?”

The redhead had to hold back a chuckle. That response was _so_ Dora. “I'm just curious.”

“I'm protective of you, and he needs to be bopped upside the head a little.”

“He can shag whomever he wants, wherever and whenever he wants.” Charlie made sure to speak when the door was opening, so that Bill would hear it. “Just because I have no stomach for any of that and never will, doesn't mean he should limit himself just for my sake.” The oldest Weasley child proceeded to blush profusely and apologize, even if the longer-haired of the gingers waved him off. The explanation was quick, and Bill returned to his partner-of-the-moment.

Once Bill was gone, and they had the compartment they had found to themselves, the Metamorphagus turned to her best friend. “You're adorable.”

“...Eh?” Charlie was nonplussed, the tips of his ears turning pink. True, when he had forced himself to experiment with blokes, they were always older, taller, stronger... but he didn't know how to react to Dora saying something like that.

“What? It's the truth.”

Thank the God and Goddess for having long hair; it was excellent to hide behind. “S-Shut it.”

Dora pretended to consider it for only a moment. “Mmm... no.”

“Then maybe just... stop?” he requested, a bit at a loss. “People really _will_ think we're dating.”

“They already do.”

He couldn’t argue that. “...Point.” Charlie's blush traveled down to his cheeks.

“I win." She let out a sinister, very Black-sounding cackle.

“Why do you do this to me?”

“’Cause I love you.”

A beat of silence, then, “...I had a thought," Charlie began, casting silencing charms before continuing. “Since you think it's hilarious that they think we're dating, why not give them some ‘proof’?”

She coked her head to the side. “Huh?”

“I'm, uh... the most comfortable with blokes, so... if you wanted to...”

“Oh, erm... uh. Um. I um." She couldn't quite keep the blush from appearing.

Odd as it was to think about, his male... _partners_ had always told him that he had a feminine edge to him, and that when he wanted to, he could be quite enticing. Not that he meant to, since he really didn't get it, but hey... “So, d'you... want... to?” Could he have possibly made the situation any more awkward? Probably not even if he had tried.

“Actually, I kinda do, but I know you're not comfortable.”

“I think I'd be okay, since it's you... and as long as we can cuddle afterward?"

“Of course, my dear. Any particular look?”

Their conversation had certainly shifted. He hadn’t quite imagined they’d actually get this far… “Um... I guess my ‘type’ if you want to call it that is someone that can make me feel... protected? I guess? And brunette. Pal skin, dark eyes...” Charlie was going to pretend that he wasn't obviously describing someone specific.

“Snape.” …So much for keeping it to himself.

“N-Not quite...” he tried to defend. If it were possible for an asexual to blush harder than he already was, then Charlie managed it. His denial wasn't fooling either of them, however.

Both her eyebrows went up again, teasingly. “Oh~?”

“Just... don't ever say anything about it? To anyone?” he managed.

“I promise.” Truth told, he had no clue what he’d do without a best friend like her.

“Thank you. I... I just... if I've ever felt something for someone beyond just aesthetic appreciation... Something maybe a little bit romantic...”

Her small, momentary smile was reassuring as her words. “I understand, Charlie.”

“Thanks,” he murmured, blush slowly fading. Removing the silencing charms, he questioned, “You want to take a page from Bill's book, or wait?”

“What do you prefer?”

“Could we wait?” Charlie requested, before hastily defending his request, even if he didn’t need to. “I mean, knowing what the Black Family was like as teens from Mum and Dad's stories, I don't think your Mum will mind...?”

“She won't, I know that much.”

“Alright.” Awkwardly, Charlie leaned forward and kissed Dora's cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered, not really sure what else to say.

“You're welcome.” Then she smirked, though it was gone as quickly as her previous smile. “Can't say I don't look forward to it,” Dora admitted.

He smiled a bit crookedly. “At least one of us has feelings about it.” He didn't find the thought sickening, not with Dora, and certainly not with Dora in Severus' guise, but he still didn't feel anything positive towards the thought. “We'll just need to convince your parents that a date night that involves leaving two 'horny' teenagers alone at home alone is a good idea.”

As ever, she was quick to reassure him again. “We don't have to do it.”

“It's fine. I... I think I sort of want to?” As always, he was unsure, not yet the confident dragon tamer he would grow up to be. “To maybe... know what it might feel like… with someone I might care for...” Blushing, Charlie quickly deflected, changing the subject to something else completely. Something mundane. She didn’t call him out on it, and just let it be.

* * *

Though the two didn't talk much more during the train ride, they made up for it by playing exploding snap and shouting. Thankfully, Andromeda was there before the Weasley parents to pick them up, so it saved them some awkward moments. That said, Theodore Tonks' reaction to Charlie was nothing short of amusing. Once they were safely up in Dora's room, Charlie had to laugh. “Your Dad actually thought I was a girl,” he shook his head in amusement. “That's hilarious. Awkward, but hilarious.”

As always, Dora couldn’t help teasing him gently. “Well you do look like one, with that mop.”

“Hey, you wear your hair shorter than most blokes I know!" He would defend his hair to the end of time, even from his mother. Still, there wasn’t any bit or heat to his words, just good-natured amusement.

“Yeah, but I can easily change mine,” she shot back.

“Not that you would.” Then he smirked. “Besides, I've heard a lot of the girls in our year and older talk about how sexy you look when it's neon blue and spiked. A few even mentioned wanting to go to a lesbian bar with you.”

“Meep.” As if on cue, her hair turned the exact color and length he mentioned.[/font]

Charlie laughed gently. “And then there's that cousin of yours... I once actually heard her telling the rest of the girls to back off of what belonged to her, or she'd hex them into the next century.”

She frowned questioningly for a moment. “Amara?”

He blinked. “That's her name? Never actually knew it. Most people just call her Queen Bitch.”

“Yeah, she rooms with Shadow.”

It was Charlie’s turn to frown for a moment. “Huh, I could’ve _sworn_ they were a thing...”

He blinked again when she corrected him. “They _are_.”

“...Oh.” Charlie shook his head. “Trust the asexual to not realize when someone is polyamourus and wants a triad relationship.” They had a transfer from Ilvermorny in their year, so they were both well versed in the actual terms for things.

Again, Dora corrected him, but this time a bit more firmly. “ _Wants_ , but doesn't _have_.”

It was his turn to cant his head to the side questioningly “Is it the poly thing? Or the fact that they're both Grey or Dark?”

“How do you know it isn't because Amara's family?”

“Frankly, if I were at all inclined towards sex, Bill and I would've jumped each other at least once by now. But if that's the issue, I won't say anything else. I was just curious.” Among Purebloods, even of the Light side, incest wasn’t nearly as taboo as it was for other people.

She huffed, admitting, “Okay, so it’s not that, and it’s also not the alignment. I just have no interest in a serious relationship while in school. Especially since I'd have to deal with even worse insults, pranks and hexes.”

“...Who do I need to punch into next year?” Charlie frowned. Feminine looks aside, he was very protective of his family, blood or not.

“No one because I'm not telling. I can handle it,” she insisted.

“You sure? I could hold them, and you could do the punching?” he offered, only half in jest.

Dora snorted. “ _You_? You couldn't hurt a fly.”

“We Quidditch players, Seekers especially, are generally stronger than we look. Besides,” and here he grinned a bit wryly, ears pinking a touch, “ _you_ know what I want to do after school, even if no-one else but McGonagall does.”

Another questioning head tilt. “Remind me, fly boy?”

“Dragons, Dora," and here his sapphire blue eyes took on a far-away look, as he grinned dopily. “ _Dragons_.” He'd already sent out a few letters to reserves around the Continent, and even begrudgingly to a few in Scotland and Ireland as well.

She couldn’t help chuckling a bit, pointing out, “Yes, _dragons_ , which are bigger than you and won't get hurt by you.”

Charlie blushed in earnest. “I should hit a growth spurt by the time seventh is out.” Since he was on the short and lithe side currently.

“Unlikely, tiny,” she teased.

“Hey, it happened to Bill,” he defended.

“I know, I'm just saying,” she soothed.

“Eh, true... So, uh...” the tips of his ears colored rose again. “Do you... um... _Tonight_ , or...?”

She shook her head. “Calm down, I'd rather just sleep.”

“Okay. Cuddles, though, yeah?” Let it never be said that Dora didn’t give the best cuddles.

“Did you even need to ask?”

“Just making sure.”

“Dork.”

Charlie just grinned. “ _Your_ dork, though~”

“Only ‘cause you don't have a partner yet.”

Perhaps surprisingly to both of them, that sobered him. “...If I could ever have the one I wanted, Dora, I think I'd _die_.”

She frowned for a moment. “Why?”

His answering smile was small and sad. “Because, it'd be too good to be true.”

Her frown deepened, but she didn’t fight him on it. “…I see. Life’s unfair, huh?”

Charlie was quick to reassure her, shoving the momentary sadness away. “Hey, as long as the people I care about are happy, then I'm happy.”

Thankfully, it seemed to work, as she grinned and shook her head at him. “You're cute.”

“It's true." Still, his ears pinked more.

“Nerdy dork.”

“Shush.”

“Make me, without kissing me.”

Charlie just threw a pillow at her.

She tossed one back, smirking.

Grinning, he lobbed another at her.

“Oh, it is on.” Another pillow was flung Charlie's way.

Laughing, Charlie proceeded to declare all-out war.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Andromeda was denying that Dora was dating Charlie. As much as he looked like a girl, she got the feeling that Dora was far more of a Black than she would ever be a Tonks. Not that Theodore would have any of it, of course, which just ended with them in another fight. One that, if not for the silencing charms, would have spilled out onto the street and through the rest of the house. In the end, Andy slept in another guest room, face bruised and pride splintering more than ever.

* * *

The next morning, things were simmering still.

Dora chuckled as she closed her door behind her, intending to get a drink of water from the kitchen.

By that point, yet another fight had started. Andy cooked using magic; it was just her way. Theodore found it stupid, and seemed to think it came from her 'hoity-toity, holier-than-thou' Pureblood upbringing. Fate seemed to have timed everything just so, as the Mugleborn's fist collided with his Pureblood wife's face in the same moment Dora reached the doorway to the kitchen.

“DAD!” Not even thinking about magic except to morph, she shifted her muscles and height, increasing them until she could pull her father away from her mother.

Andromeda's smile was glass, ready to shatter at any moment. Pulling her daughter away from her husband, she murmured, “It's alright, sweetheart, I deserved that. I was being unreasonable. Your father was right to knock me back to my senses.” Goddess, why had she ever left? Bella had never hit her, but it had just been _easier_ to tell Teddy that Dora was his.

Not that Dora was having any of it. “ _MUM_! Don't you dare say that! This isn't the first time you've been hit, is it?”

“Of course it is, Dora,” she injected feeling and emotion into her smile and voice, something that the Blacks were taught to do from almost birth. “Your father and I both have tempers, don't worry about it.” The fact that Teddy seemed to vanish from the kitchen, leaving out the back door and not likely to return until he was good and sauced, ready for a full-on beat down, wasn't mentioned. All her bruises would be in places she could hide.

The younger witch’s eyes narrowed. “Don't lie to me, Mum.”

“I'm not.” Without thought, she was using a Pureblood-trained voice, cool and calm and unaffected. Mother wasn't screaming for catching her and Bella kissing. Father wasn't beating them for being more interested in Quidditch and each other than finding husbands. Narcissa wasn't being conniving and cold. Everything. Was. Fine.

“Mum this isn't how you normally act now tell me the truth.” There was worry and frustration in her voice.

Maybe, if things had been different, her pride would have held together. Maybe, if she hadn’t been lying, it wouldn’t have had to. Regardless, her pride _did_ crack, and Andromeda sighed softly in resignation. Casting silencing charms wandlessly – and especially _Muffliato_ , as Severus had taught it to all of them – the dark-haired witch sighed again. “…You're right, Dora. This isn't the first time.”

Dora’s frustration vanished, leaving only worry behind. “How long, mum?”

Andromeda winced inwardly. She had never wanted to have to talk about this with her daughter, but she had made her own bed, and it was time to lie in it. “It started... before you were born. We both have tempers, as I said, and your father's got worse when he drank. I thought – I _hoped_ that when you were born, it would stop, but...” She almost sighed again. “I was wrong.”

“Why didn't you leave him?”

“I’m a Pureblood, darling. If a husband doesn't beat his wife, she's either perfect, or there's something wrong with him. It's the way I was raised. However,” and here a touch of steel entered her tired tone, “the one thing I would _never_ allow, would be your father hurting you. Even if that was _also_ the way I was raised.”

“So you'd expect my spouse to beat me then?” Dora frowned.

Shaking her head, Andromeda did her best to try to explain the warped reasoning. “It's – _different_ with women,” she murmured. “Violence between us is seen as a sign of horrible breeding and inadequate rearing.”

The Hufflepuff almost scoffed. “I _do_ like men, mum, I just prefer women.”

Andromeda corrected herself. “I know you do, but I also know that you're perfect. If any man _ever_ lays a hand on you,” grey eyes darkened, “it would be the last time he would ever _have_ that hand.”

Dora looked at her in askance for a moment, before seeming to decide against whatever she was thinking of asking. “I’m far from perfect, mum. You don't deserve this any more than you think I do.”

Almost on impulse, Andy made a choice. What did it matter, now that nearly everything was out in the open? “...If I tell you a secret, Dora, would you swear to me that you would never breathe a word of it to anyone? Not even to Charlie?” Not that she didn’t trust him, but the Weasley’s were firmly Light.

“I would make an Unbreakable Vow if I could.”

Though she blinked at the rather dramatic answer for a moment, Andromeda quickly continued. “Your father... isn't your father.”

Perhaps because of the scene she had just witnessed, Dora took that information in stride. “Then who is?”

Suddenly feeling small, the older witch murmured, “Swear to me you won't hate me?”

Dora’s gaze and voice never wavered. “I swear.”

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, which had been all over the place during this conversation, the Pureblood answered. “My twin sister, Bellatrix.”

“Oh.” Once again, her daughter took it calmly. “The one in Azkaban? Really?”

Andromeda swallowed the impulse to laugh a touch hysterically, nodding instead. “ She was my best friend. My first kiss, my first fuck, my first _everything_. I love her in a way that burns like the sun. What I felt for Theodore was always only a reflection of what I felt for her. When I found out I was pregnant... I panicked. If our Father beat us for fucking, he would have killed me for having her child. It seemed safer if I told Theodore you were his and married him. Even if it meant giving up Bella and everything else.”

Dora’s continued seriousness and understanding baffled the older witch. “Mother, I love you dearly. It doesn't matter that she's my father.”

This time, Andromeda couldn’t stifle a tiny, hysterical chuckle. “Sometimes, I wonder if I -- if _we_ would have been happier, if Bella and I had gotten married. If I had told her in the first place. And then I think, it _certainly_ would have been better because,” she took a deep breath, trying to hold in her feelings like she had been taught. Still, one tear escaped her iron-clad control, streaking through her makeup. “Because if I hadn't left, then she would still be sane, and I wouldn't have become my Mother.”

The young Metamorphagus gave her a reassuring smile. “We can fix this, mother ...Though, I have to ask, did my Aunt know?”

Grey eyes blinked for a moment, though Andromeda answered anyway. “Narcissa? No. Even then, she was getting to pretentious for either Bella or I to stand.”

There was a moment of silence, as Dora contemplated her words, before questioning, “Do you think Amara is a bad person?”

Andromeda managed to take the non-sequitur in stride. “Amara is very much a product of her parents, both in the literal and metaphorical sense." Here the brunette  sighed. "Narcissa cares too much, while Lucius cares too little, and neither of them actually care about her as a _person_. It's a recipe for disaster, all things considered." Privately, Andy wondered if things would have been different for her niece, had Lucius' older sister and Amara's namesake still been alive. However, as the woman had been on a path to destruction even before she had committed suicide [1], the middle Black sister doubted it. (The fact that his sister had been the only person Lucius had loved, and her death having been what iced over his already cold heart notwithstanding, of course.)

“Do you think she can be saved?” Dora pressed.

“I think that being saved very much depends on what one believes she needs saving _from_ ,” Andromeda replied honestly. “I this case however, I would say no, if only because she has no other options.” _And she is too much like her father's sister – stubborn enough to survive Durmstrang – to accept it_ , the grey-eyed woman didn’t add.

“…Oh.” She looked down for a moment, before once again meeting her mother’s eyes and returning to their original topic. “Dad – _Ted_ isn't allowed back in the house,” she declared, making Andromeda frown.

“He structured the wards, sweetheart,” the Pureblood admitted, gently as she could. “I can't keep him out, as much as I would like to.”

There was fire in her daughter’s eyes, hair bleeding Gryffindor scarlet. “I'll stay up all night if I have to, too keep him out.”

The former Slytherin did her best to soothe her daughter. “I won't let you lose sleep over this, Dora. I can handle myself, and if he ever ties to hurt you, I will kill him myself.” She still knew enough Dark magic to make sure no-one would ever find the body, or tie her to it, after all.

Not that Dora would have any of it. “I don't like him hitting you,” she insisted.

Andromeda managed to keep her composure. “Better I than you, dear one.”

“No it's not!” Dora snapped.

“I grew up like this, Dora. I know how to deal with it,” there was an edge to her words, but no harshness.

“That doesn't make it right!”

That made Andromeda sigh wearily. “I... I know it isn't,” she admitted. “But I would rather die, than let him hurt you.”

Dora made an attempt to reign in her temper. “I won't let him hurt you again.”

After a moment’s deliberation, the grey-eyed witch gave a bit of ground. “I will find a clean, _legal_ way to leave him, I promise you that.” However, it wouldn't be decided by a Muggle judge in a Muggle court. She was still a Black, and blood traitor or not, she still knew how to work the Wizengamot and the system to her favor. Maybe, if she greased enough palms and flattered enough egos, Theodore would get Kissed for her trouble...

“You promise?” She wasn’t at all surprised at the suspicion in Dora’s tone.

Andromeda nodded. “I swear it..” If she had to kill him herself, then so be it. She was a Slytherin, and a child of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black – she knew how to hide things and make them seem as if she had had no part in any of it.

That seemed to calm her daughter down. “I'll hold you to it.”

“I know you will, darling.” Then she smiled sadly. "You're very much like Bella, you know, before she lost herself.”

“…Should I take that as a compliment?”

The brunette chuckled a bit. “If you like. You didn't know Bella back then – hardly anyone did, though they all _think_ they knew her.” Another small, sad smile tugged at Andromeda's mouth. “Naïvely, I thought Narcissa was the only person I'd ever have to share Bella with. But then she met the Dark Lord, and I learned I would always have to come second." Even if she were Grey, she would always refer to Voldemort as the Dark Lord.

“You had to have loved her for a reason,” Dora reassured.

“She was my everything," Andromeda responded simply. “And, when I found out I wasn't hers... In my betrayal and jealousy, Theodore was the best person to rebel and hurt her with.”

“Or, so you thought.”

“Or so I thought, yes. In the end, I hurt myself more than I hurt her. I just... I wanted her to see she couldn't jerk me around and expect to get away with it. I wanted her to understand she couldn't play with my heart the way she played with boys. But it backfired, and before I realized it, you were born, and he promised me he would stop hurting me if I were a better woman, not a _Pureblood bitch_... and I fooled myself into thinking it would get better.”

Hugging her mother, the younger witch declared, “Mum, I'll always be here for you.”

Wrapping her arms around her daughter in kind, she murmured, “Thank you, darling... I don't know I would have survived without you.”

“I love you, Mum.”

“I love you too, Dora. I'm sorry about your name... Theodore didn't care, and I followed in the family's footsteps of odd names.”

Dora made a face. “I'm not even sure I want to be called Tonks anymore,” she admitted.

“We'll figure something out...” After the divorce was finalized, it would feel good to be Andromeda Black once more. Then a thought struck her. “I never got around to telling you what your middle name was, did I? You could use that instead, if you like.”

She perked up, eager to be called anything but _Nymphadora_. “What is it?”

“Lucretia, after my favorite aunt. She married into the Prewett family, actually, making you and Charlie cousins of a sort.”

Dora grinned. “I like it.”

“Most of us just called her Auntie Lu, since we were too young to fully say her name, and it stuck with us. She encouraged Bella and I to pursue careers outside of being housewitches, teaching us to fly and most of the spells we didn't learn in school came from her. She’s one of the few people of my blood family that I miss to this day.”

“Can I use her name?”

Andromeda had to chuckle at her daughter’s eagerness. “Of course. I named you after her, didn't I?”

“I'd prefer to use it over Nym – ” She hacked a bit. “Nymphadora,” she finally whispered.

“I must have been addled on pain potions when I thought _that_ up,” Andromeda shook her head. “I couldn't think of any star-related names.”

“I would have accepted even Cancer compared to Nymphadora.”

“I was actually thinking Galatea,” the brunette admitted, “before you were born.”

Dora grinned again. “I like it. Can I change my name?”

Andromeda chuckled a bit. “Of course. We'll work on that after I get rid of my biggest mistake.”

“I want to be Galatea Lucretia Black,” the Metamorphagus declared emphatically, making her mother smile warmly.

“Then so you shall be,” she murmured, kissing her daughter's temple. “Now,” she removed the silencing spells, "I suggest going to speak with Charlie, since he's standing at the top of the stairs, looking very confused,” she teased.

Gala’s smirk was all Bellatrix. “Charlie's _always_ confused.”

“Hey! I can hear you, you know!” Andromeda laughed as Charlie took the stairs two at a time. He entered the kitchen looking miffed but cute, wild curls trying to imitate a halo.

“I know!” the Hufflepuff crowed.

“And I’m not _always_ confused, thank you very much,” he retorted.

“Okay, only 99.9% of the time,” the younger witch teased.

“Oi!”

(Meanwhile, Andy had a faraway look on her face, wondering if this was what it would have been like to have more than one child. Not that she would’ve _ever_ wanted to have Theodore's child.)

Gala smirked and grabbed a couch cushion, throwing it at Charlie.

Dexterously, Charlie dodged, caught the cushion, and sent it right back. However, Andy would have none of it. "Oh no, outside, you two. If you want to roughhouse, you won't be doing it inside and making a mess.”

“Yes, mum!” Gala laughed. “Come on, I'm gonna kick your arse!”

Laughing, Charlie taunted, “Catch me, first!” As he sped out the back door, he called, “I'll be calling you Auntie Andy from now on!” to which Andromeda just smiled, shaking her head in fond amusement.

Shifting her legs a bit, the Metamorphagus bolted off after him.

“Cheating!” Charlie called, but he was still grinning, even as he drew his want to send a non-lethal spell at his... cousin? Yes, cousin. (As they were inside the bubble of wards, they could use their magic without being caught by the Ministry.)

“You'll only win by using those spells!”

“You say that like you haven't beaten me with less before!”

And the soon-to-be single Black witch just watched them from the kitchen window, smiling, before leaving to take care of her face. For now, there was peace.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] Those of you who have read "Funhouse Mirror" know that Lucius' sister is still alive, but Andromeda doesn't.


End file.
